Charting Your Research Path
As you begin your research, take the time to plan what you will be doing by using this
worksheet. Don’t forget—sometimes even with the best laid plans things can happen so
you must be flexible, adaptable and willing to learn from your experience.
1. What do you need to do?
Briefly explain the nature and requirements of your assignment.
2. What are the best resources to use?
Decide where you can find information by listing possible resources.
3. How are you searching for information? How can you get what you need?
Develop a strategy with keywords and search techniques.
What important words or concepts are associated with your topic?
Example: impact of diet on children with ADHD
Keywords or concepts
ADHD
Children
Diet
Synonyms or related words
ADD
Kids
Nutrition
List some keywords, concepts, synonyms and subject headings.
Keywords or concepts
Synonyms or related words
Developed by The PEARL Project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services
1
What search strategy could you use?
Boolean Operators—AND, OR, NOT
Too many results?
AND
Narrows your search
Example: diet AND ADHD
Not enough results?
OR
Broadens your search
Example: diet OR nutrition
Too many results?
NOT
Narrows your search (exclude)
Example: children NOT teens
Quotations
If you have to search for a phrase, put the phrase in “quotation marks.” This tells the
engine to search for the words exactly as you type them.
Example: “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”
Nesting (parentheses)
If you want your search to be done in a certain order, use parentheses ( ) to group
items together. This requires the words and operations to be done or searched first.
This is usually used for the OR search.
Example: (ADHD OR “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”) AND (diet OR
nutrition)
4. Can you find what you need?
Access and retrieve information using the library’s books and databases.
5. How successful was your search?
Evaluate what you found. Does the information pass for accuracy, authority,
coverage, credibility, objectivity and relevance?
6. How can you organize your information?
Developed by The PEARL Project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services
2
7. Did you practice ethical behavior?
Avoid plagiarizing, credit your sources and create a bibliography.
8. How successful was your researching?
Take a moment to reflect on your work. What did you learn? What are your next
steps?
Developed by The PEARL Project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services
3